NBA rumors: Pelicans tried to bring Carmelo Anthony back to the NBA

While appearing on his new podcast with The Kid Mero, Carmelo Anthony said that the New Orleans Pelicans were interested in signing him before he retired last season. Based on the clip, it's unclear when exactly the Pelicans wanted to sign the player but it can be assumed that the team had interest at some point last season.

Melo also mentions that teams in China had an interest in signing the player but based on the laughs by both hosts, it seemed to be something that the former All-NBA was not interested in. In this later stage of Melo's career, he was a suitable bench player but nothing more. While he was always a potent scorer, his defensive struggles became too much for any team to play him more than 5 to 10 minutes off the bench.

While it seems like Carmelo and the Pelicans have moved on from the potenial connection. It is worth asking if the Pelicans ever had any response to Anthony saying that the team had interest in him.

Did the Pelicans ever acknowledge that they had interest in signing Carmelo Anthony?

When the veteran retired, it seemed like the Pelicans wished him congrats on a great career and featured him interacting with multiple different New Orleans players during and after games. It seems like the Pelicans are publicly taking the statement back. The social media team decided to post a funny caption saying they should delete their best wishes tweet.

Of course, this is a just funny social media reaction and not an actual shot at the future Hall of fame player. While it would have been interesting to see Melo getting buckets off the bench in the Big Easy, it seems like both parties were able to leave the situation without hurting each other feelings.